[Leica] Re: Kodachrome Blues

[Jim Brick <jim@brick.org>]

Kodachrome processing for the San Francisco Bay Area is overnight. There is
a K-14 Kodak minilab in San Leandro. There are couriers from everywhere in
the Bay Area. Perhaps even to Sacatomatoes. This would beat shipping your
film off via USPS, cooking in holding boxes, then freezing in delivery trucks.

The main reason I quit using Kodachrome is that after spending money
(sometimes a large amount) to get somewhere, to take photographs that
probably cannot be ever duplicated again, then come home and "mail" your
film somewhere, to someone, whom you don't know, cannot speak to, or
anything else.

This is when I started using E6 and processing it myself. I now use a local
pro lab with two hour E6. They guarantee pro level service, maintain their
machinery, and there is a real person that I can (and I have) talk to face
to face. My hard earned images are not far from home and with someone I
trust. No savage baggage handlers involved. www.calypsoinc.com

Now that Kodak has a lab twenty miles from me, one would think perhaps it
is time to switch back. I can drive the 20 miles, talk face to face, etc...
However,

Two years ago Kodak sent me four rolls of K64 and said please use this in
parallel with the Fuji film you are using. I did (two R7 bodies) and I sent
them identical samples from the Fuji Velvia and from the K64. My daughter
is taking photography in college and a month ago, the assignment was to
photograph identical subjects using K64 and Fuji Provia. She did (two
R7's.) After looking at the slides, she remarked "why would anyone use
Kodachrome?" I said the same with the Kodak test I did.

My answer was that there are a lot of people who prefer the more muted look
of Kodachrome and for some subjects, it is truly a better film. Since it is
a B&W film, basically dyed during processing, it is more "film" like than
E6 products where the color couplers are contained within the emulsions.
Many people like this aspect of Kodachrome.

The real answer is: different strokes for different folks. I like the look
of Velvia. Period! And Kodachrome just doesn't do it for me. I know what it
will look like after processing, what various filters do to it, what it's
exposure latitude is, and all of that kind of stuff.

I hope Kodak continues to manufacture Kodachrome as I believe that K25 is
probably the benchmark of color transparency films.

Jim


At 03:38 PM 2/5/00 -0500, Doug Herr wrote:
>>>>
> Processing turn around times went from one week
>to two weeks three years or so back but now they have jumped to FIVE weeks!
>The store I deal with said the two week time was due to it having to be
>sent
>to the eastern USA.  Canada lost both its plants a while ago. Now that it
>is
>five weeks they speculated that it had to go to Europe! Is this the end of
>Kodachrome. Are there no more plants in North America? If you have heard
>anything I would be grateful for news.
><<<
>
>I've been using the prepaid mailers (purchased from B&H, New York) and
>sending them to New Jersey.  Turnaround from California to New Jersey and
>back has been about 10 days to two weeks.  The mail gets to New Jersey in
>about 3 days; assuming another 3 days to get back here, that leaves 4 days

>for processing.  I doubt New Jersey is sending them to Europe.
>
>Doug Herr